Tag Archives: courtesy

For years, I have been hearing and telling stories about the unsmiling harshness of the US immigration service. But at San Francisco, this morning, I was confronted by a smile, a courteous enquiry about my birth place and a friendly invitation to enjoy my stay. Surely, my guy was an exception, I thought, but no – I saw they were all doing it – courteous, polite, relaxed… whoa!

So, folks – is this just in San Francisco, on President’s Day? Or is this part of a wider trend? Next, will it be cheerful non-political chat from taxi drivers in London? …. polite Parisian waiters? …. New Zealanders embracing Aussies as long-lost pals?….. We need to know!

This blog is meant as a kind of plea, just in case I am doing some five million people a significant injustice. You see, while I was there, I seem to have hit a wall, or perhaps a ceiling in my understanding of this place.

It is not that it lacks soul – there is definitely a feeling to the place and to the people – but it does seem very confined; focussed upon the singular pursuit of commercial and material success. Perhaps, I am mistaking newness for shallowness, the absence of bookstores (I have only seen one, and that, inside a museum, since I got here) for a lack of intellectual enquiry, the city’s extraordinary cleanliness for sterility.

Businessmen chatting in the forecourt of the oldest Buddhist temple in Singapore

Yes, I have seen that the Buddhist temple and the main Mosque (situated within 200m of one another) are well endowed and enjoy a regular stream of devotees, unperturbed by the equal stream of curious tourists, like me.

Preparing for New Year in China Town

And I don’t doubt that the careful courtesy that I have met from most people is genuine, unforced. And, yes, it is certainly true that I have not explored the city as widely as I could have.

So, maybe it is I that is being too shallow. If you have been there, or better yet, live there, please let me know what you think. I hesitate to add a poll because that would just restrict answers. Instead, here is a contact form, to make it easier for you to comment.